September 27, 1991 - Ukrainian Canadians - a podcast by Stephen Hammond

Ottawa acknowledges its unjust treatment of Ukrainian Canadians during World War I. When World War I started, the Canadian government worried about the allegiance of Canadian citizens who had come from regions around the Austro-Hungarian empire. So the government interned 8,579 “enemy aliens” in 26 camps across Canada under the War Measures Act. More than 5,000 of these were Ukrainians. Another 80,000 – mostly Ukrainians – had to register as enemy aliens and report regularly to local authorities. Inmates of these internment camps were forced to work on infrastructure in mining and logging camps, and on government terrain such as Banff National Park. Even when the war ended, the government maintained the camps for another two years, until 1920. They justified this by referring to their free labour source as “Bolsheviks” rather than “enemy aliens,” and indicating concern about these Canadians’ allegiance to the new Soviet Union. Meanwhile, Ukrainian Canadians who were not interned faced discrimination and public ridicule. It took more than 70 years for the Canadian government to admit the unfairness of its policy. But finally, on September 27, 1991, the Canadian House of Commons unanimously approved a private member’s bill submitted by Member of Parliament Peter Milliken. The bill acknowledged the unjust treatment of Ukrainian Canadians between 1914 and 1920, instructed the government to erect markers in all 26 internment locations and initiated negotiations between the government and Ukrainian Canadians to redress the injustices. On August 24, 2005 Prime Minister Paul Martin met with Ukrainian Canadians at a ceremony in Regina signing an agreement to spend $2.5 million on markers, plaques and educational materials. On July 14, 2007, Mary Manko Haskett, died. She and her family had been imprisoned in one of the camps in rural Quebec. Haskett was believed to be the last survivor of Canada’s camps.

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